Mostyn Neil Hamilton (born 9 March 1949) is a British politician and former barrister who was leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2021 to 2024. Originally a member of the Conservative Party, he was elected to the House of Commons in the 1983 general election as Member of Parliament (MP) for Tatton, a seat he held until 1997. He was appointed parliamentary under-secretary of state for corporate affairs by Prime Minister John Major in 1992.
In 1994, The Guardian alleged that Hamilton had taken cash payments in exchange for asking questions in Parliament. Hamilton sued the newspaper for libel, but settled on the day of the trial. The Guardian published a headline branding him "A Liar and a Cheat". The cash-for-questions affair inquiry in 1997 found that Hamilton had taken bribes. He subsequently lost a libel case on the matter. Hamilton became widely associated with sleaze, and was forced to resign his ministerial role. He was defeated by an independent candidate, Martin Bell, in the 1997 general election.
Hamilton left the Conservative Party in 2002. In 2011, he returned to politics and was elected to the national executive committee of UKIP. He served as a UKIP Member of the Senedd (MS) for Mid and West Wales from 2016 to 2021. Following his election to the National Assembly for Wales, he was UKIP's assembly group leader from 2016 to 2018 and again from 2019 to 2021. He became leader of UKIP Wales in 2016. In September 2020, Hamilton was named acting leader of UKIP, following the suspension from the party of the previous leader, Freddy Vachha. Hamilton was defeated at the 2021 Senedd election. In October 2021, Hamilton was elected UKIP leader and served until May 2024.
Early life Hamilton was born in Fleur-de-Lis, a Gwent pit village near Blackwood, Wales. In 1960 he moved to Ammanford, Carmarthenshire. His father was a chief engineer for the National Coal Board. His grandfathers were coal miners. He joined the Conservative Party in 1964, at the age of 15.
Education Hamilton attended Amman Valley Grammar School in Ammanford. He received a BScEcon degree in economics and politics from the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth in 1970, and an MScEcon degree in economics and politics in 1975.Aber Connect: Mr M N Hamilton. While at Aberystwyth, he was active in the Federation of Conservative Students; he was a member between 1968 and 1974. In 1973, as a representative of the Federation of Conservative Students, Hamilton attended a conference of the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement (MSI). Hamilton went on to study at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge,BBC News, Election 97 (.) Accessed 23 May 2014. where he attained a postgraduate law degree.‘HAMILTON, (Mostyn) Neil’, Who's Who 2016, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2016; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2015; online edn, November 2015. Accessed 10 May 2016.
Student activity and early political career At the 1970 Conservative Party conference, Hamilton called for mass privatisation. The following year, he opposed the plan for Britain to join the European Communities. In 1972, after several years' membership, Hamilton was elected to the executive council of the Conservative Monday Club. He left the Club in 1973, and stood as chairman of the Federation of Conservative Students against David Davis, but lost. In the early 1970s, Hamilton was the founder of the Eldon League, a right-wing social organisation given to having picnics and dinners 'and having a good time'.Guy Rais, "Goose-step not backing Nazism says Tory MP", Daily Telegraph, 16 October 1986. He appointed himself its "Grand Imperial Prior" and called for the abolition of the internal combustion engine and plastic. Hamilton stood as the Conservative parliamentary candidate in the February 1974 general election in AbertilleryUK General Election results February 1974 at politicalresources.net. and in the 1979 general election in Bradford North,UK General Election results May 1979 at politicalresources.net. but failed on both occasions.
Teaching Hamilton was a teacher at St John's College in Southsea between 1973 and 1976. In his spare time he studied for his bar practice exam. He also taught constitutional law at Hatfield Polytechnic between September 1978 and July 1982.
Legal career From September 1979, Hamilton practised as a barrister. He specialised in taxation, trust and property law. However, after he lost his parliamentary seat in 1997, he vowed never to return to "that constipated profession".Chris Moncrieff and Vik Iyer, "Hamilton's career came to crashing end over cash for questions scandal", The Irish Independent, 11 August 2001. In April 2001, Hamilton said, "If I am bankrupt [which he was the following month],"Hamilton declared bankrupt", BBC News, 22 May 2001"Hamilton declared bankrupt", The Guardian, 22 May 2001. I won't be able to return to the bar but even if I was able to do so, I couldn't contain myself from saying what I thought to some of the judges.""Register of Potential and Actual Peerage Cases in which the Debtor is a Member of the House of Commons including a Record of Returns Sent", Insolvency Law (Jordan Publishing), 22 April 2010. Hamilton was also European and Parliamentary Affairs Director of the Institute of Directors during this time.David Leigh & Ed Vulliamy, Sleaze, the Corruption of Parliament, pages 48/49,
Political career Parliamentary career On 12 March 1983, Hamilton was selected as the Conservative candidate for the newly created Tatton constituency. Three months later, at the 1983 general election Hamilton was elected to Parliament as MP for Tatton. On entering the Commons, Hamilton was appointed as an officer of the backbench committee on Trade and Industry under the chairmanship of Michael Grylls.
Leaded petrol In 1984, against party policy, Hamilton opposed the abandonment of leaded petrol in Britain. He argued there was no evidence that leaded petrol was damaging the environment, or health, and that jobs would be lost in his constituency if leaded petrol were banned.
Western Goals Institute Hamilton resumed his activities as a supporter of pressure groups, including the Western Goals Institute, led by ex-Young Monday Club Chairman, Andrew V. R. Smith and attracting the support of other parliamentarians such as Sir Patrick Wall, Bill Walker, Nicholas Winterton and the Revd. Martin Smyth. He was on their parliamentary advisory board.Labour Research, November 1988, p. 2. The Western Goals Institute achieved notoriety by inviting Jean-Marie Le Pen (leader of the French National Front) and Alessandra Mussolini (Benito Mussolini's granddaughter, a Deputy sitting for the Italian neo-fascist MSI) to address fringe meetings at the 1992 Conservative Party conference. The Party Chairman Sir Norman Fowler was outraged, and said the Conservative Party was not related to the Western Goals Institute. In the event the meetings were cancelled, as neither Le Pen nor Mussolini could come to Britain.
Hamilton also lent his support to the No Turning Back Group organised by his friend Michael Brown MP. Other MPs active in the No Turning Back Group included Michael Portillo, Peter Lilley, Alan Duncan and Gerald Howarth.David Leigh & Ed Vulliamy, Sleaze, the Corruption of Parliament, page 76,
Ian Greer Associates In 1985, he began working for Ian Greer Associates, lobbying on behalf of US Tobacco.David Leigh & Ed Vulliamy, Sleaze, the Corruption of Parliament, pp. 65/70, . Hamilton, together with Michael Brown, became an enthusiastic supporter of US Tobacco's product Skoal Bandits, a tea-bag type of pouch of tobacco designed for chewing. The product was believed to cause serious risk of oral cancer, particularly for minors, and the government was inclined to ban its import. Hamilton said he supported the introduction of Skoal Bandits on libertarian grounds, and lobbied ministers (including Edwina Currie and David Mellor) to allow its introduction. The House of Commons Select Committee on Standards investigation stated: "Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Brown had a number of contacts with Ministers and officials as part of their campaign to influence Government policy on Skoal Bandits" and said that there was "no evidence ... that any appropriate declaration was made". Hamilton was obliged to concede he had been wrong to make no reference to the payment "when I went on those meetings with Ministers".
Strategy Network International In June 1990, Hamilton was recruited by the right-wing Monday Club activist Derek Laud to work for Strategy Network International, a firm specifically created to lobby against anti-apartheid movements and economic sanctions and for apartheid South Africa's 'transitional government' of Namibia set up in defiance of UN Resolution 435 on Namibian independence. Derek Laud was an ex-Monday Club activist and protégé of Hamilton's friend Michael Brown, who offered Hamilton a fee of £8,000 per year. Hamilton failed to register the paid-for consultancy. Hamilton took free trips to South Africa in the company of Brown.Patricia Wynn Davies, "The Attack on Sleaze: How apartheid regime set out to woo Tories", The Independent, 26 October 1994- David Leigh & Ed Vulliamy, Sleaze, the Corruption of Parliament, page 136, - Select Committee on Standards and Privileges First Report iv. STRATEGY NETWORK INTERNATIONAL, Hansard.
Thatcher leaves office Margaret Thatcher appointed Hamilton a whip in July 1990. In November 1990, Michael Heseltine put himself forward as a potential replacement for Thatcher as leader of the Conservative Party. Tim Renton, the Chief Whip, told Hamilton to stay neutral, but Hamilton says he ignored this instruction. "I naturally ignored this advice and fed all my intelligence into her campaign." He also said that he made the fateful suggestion that Thatcher interview each cabinet member individually, believing they would lack the resolve to tell her to her face that she must go. "Unfortunately, I had miscalculated."Neil Hamilton in Iain Dale (ed) Memories of Margaret Thatcher: A Portrait, By Those Who Knew Her Best (Biteback Publishing, 2013) Hamilton strongly encouraged Thatcher to persist. At a meeting where Peter Lilley argued that Thatcher could not survive, Hamilton subjected him to a barrage of "sarcasm and heckling".Bruce Anderson, John Major – Making of the Prime Minister (1991). On 21 November 1990, Hamilton and like-minded colleagues met Thatcher at Downing Street. On 22 November Thatcher announced that she would resign, and on 27 November, in the next round of the election for Conservative leader, Hamilton voted for John Major.Christine Hamilton's autobiography – 2005.
Minister in Major Government From 1992 to 1994, Hamilton was the Minister for Deregulation and Corporate Affairs in John Major's government. He came under pressure to step down after the resignation of another minister, Tim Smith, on 19 October 1994, after Smith had admitted to taking money in the cash-for-questions affair. Facing the same allegations,David Hencke, Tory MPs were paid to plant questions says Harrods chief in The Guardian dated 20 October 1994 Hamilton denied them and issued proceedings for libel, but he resigned on 26 October at the insistence of John Major."The individual responsibility of ministers" in David Pollard, Neil Parpworth, David Hughes, Constitutional and Administrative Law: Text with Materials (Oxford University Press, 2007), p. 171
Approach to the Maastricht Treaty Denmark rejected the Maastricht Treaty on 2 June 1992.Western Europe 2003